Film Review: Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007)

Rob Zombie's Halloween

Director Rob Zombie didn't take John Carpenter's advice lightly when Carpenter told him to "make the film his own."

This 2007 film takes you on a stroll down memory-lane and attempts to fill in the gaps and details that Carpenter may have found irrelevant to the original 1978 classic.

In a way, I resent Rob Zombie's implication that the young Michael Meyers (Daeg Faerch) had to be a chubby effeminate child filled with rage, when in fact the "traditional" Michael Meyers was an average all-American looking boy. That's what made the original story horrifying after all, no? Michael Meyers could have been anyone: the child next-door or your own child, for that matter. That's what made the film scary.

Not in this film. Michael Myers is the progeny of a demented family. There's no mystery here--we're shown this from the get-go.

Zombie felt the need to reiterate the depravity of his characters throughout the film, casting his wife (what a shock) Sheri Moon Zombie in the role of Deborah Myers, the mother of Michael and Judith. Did Zombie forget that Michael Myers' mother was named Edith in the original film? Who knows!

Nevertheless, this film was too reminiscent of The Devil's Rejects and House of 1000 Corpses. Sheri Moon Zombie claims that this is her husband's 'signature.' I call it lack of inspitation. The only character that saved this cast was Dr. Loomis (Malcom McDowell), who brought a much needed breath of fresh air to this film.

Despite this, fans that have followed the slasher classic may actually enjoy this interpretation of the film if they've grown tired of watching rappers like L.L. Cool J and Busta Rhymes appear as characters in the series of Halloween films. Kudos to Rob Zombie for one thing: employing his own status as a musician and director instead of casting the current MTV flavor of the week for ratings.

Unfortunately, I couldn't buy into the dysfunctional ‘white trash' depiction. I tried, but I couldn't forget the plot and characters from the original cult classic. Call me nostalgic, but I fondly remember the middle-class neighborhood, the appearance of a seemingly-normal household and a confused little boy that just "lost it" on Halloween. Perhaps that's why I found this adaptation so disappointing.

Rating: 5/10

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